


you're running after something that you'll never kill

by ActivelyWeird



Category: Lost in Translation (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Enemies to Friends, Gen, League of Legends - Freeform, Minsoo plays League, twitch streamer au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:02:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26299102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ActivelyWeird/pseuds/ActivelyWeird
Summary: Minsoo lived an okay life; not great, not terrible. He was decent at League, and enjoyed what he did. So why did Dongho had to come back into his life now?
Relationships: Kang Dongho | D.Min & Lee Minsoo
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	you're running after something that you'll never kill

**Author's Note:**

> I asked my friend for a fic idea and she was like "enemies to lovers" and this is absolutlely not the direction I was planning to go in, but here we are. 
> 
> Not entirely sure where on Earth I pulled this AU idea from, but you know, here it is. I think the tags are fine tbh, but if anyoen wants me to fix them to include something else just lmk. 
> 
> fun fact: i wrote this while listening to solely Just Right by GOT7 on repeat
> 
> Inspired by [Domino](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0_HrmPljVU) by WayV and [Power](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGRv8ZBLuW0) by Exo. Title from [Thank You For The Venom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktpr-HxGJ0E) by My Chemical Romance.

  
_Don't hesitate move on  
There's no time  
Your future depends on your imagination  
Throw away your fear, we can do it, it's okay  
All the keys are in your possession  
_  


“Okay, but have you guys seen the new skins they’re selling? Been really tempted to get them, if I’m being honest.”

Minsoo twirled in his chair slightly, moving the cursor on the screen to hover over the onscreen announcement. Hm, Spirit Blossom skin seemed pretty nice, though some of the others were cool too. 

“Well, it isn’t up to me. Guys, send in your votes and I’ll show off the winner in Friday’s stream!” he announced, making little cheering sounds. 

“Anyways, time to go kick some butt in Ranked. While I’m getting set up guys, remember to subscribe to my channel and join my Patreon for some exclusive content. Seriously, all you guys are the best.”

“Hm, since I’ve got a couple minutes, figure I’d go through some of the comments. ‘Hey Minsoo, when are you re-dying your hair?’ What, you don’t like the silver?” Minsoo teased. “Well, probably not for awhile, I just got it done. My friend Jaewon actually wants to get his redone soon, so I might go with him then.”

Scrolling through the comments, mostly the standard fare, Minsoo looked up to see the game about to start.

“Alright let’s get it.” 

For the next several minutes, aggressive clicking was the only sound in the room, occasionally interrupted by Minsoo’s swears. 

“Ahh.. don’t flame the team, don’t flame the team,” he muttered under his breath as he quickly crafted another item.

His team ended losing by a small margin, and Minsoo groaned, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “Seriously, did you guys see that? So fucking close,” he groaned, throwing his head back in annoyance.

Looking up to see the rankings of the match, he said, “That wasn’t a great team, usually I get better people to work with. You guys saw half of those people had no idea what they were doing, wonder how they got into such a high Ranked match.” 

He made sure to smile brightly afterwards, however. Had to keep up a positive attitude for his viewers. “Well, I’m sure I wasn’t at my best today too. I didn’t sleep well last night, probably just a little off my game.”

Glancing at the clock, Minsoo decided it was time to close off the stream for the night. “And remember, the next stream is coming Friday! See you guys then!” before quickly shutting down the stream.

Minsoo sighed. No matter how much he liked gaming, streaming was always a little stressful. Groaning, he picked himself up out of his chair, heading into the small kitchen of his apartment for some water. 

Downing half the bottle in one go, he brought it back to his room with him. He decided to forgo uploading this stream, considering it wasn’t as long as his other ones and he didn’t even win his game. Exiting out of the browser, he shut down the monitor before making sure to pick everything up so the wires didn’t become a tangled mess.

He hadn’t lied to his viewers, he hadn’t slept the night before. But it wasn’t just some random bout of insomnia, but rather worry about tomorrow that was keeping him up. Jaewon had called him earlier that day, saying that one of his friends needed a place to crash for a couple of days but Jaewon had to visit his mom and so he couldn’t stay at Jaewon’s place and could Minsoo please let him borrow the couch?

Minsoo had begrudgingly said yes, because saying no to Jaewon was physically impossible. But that meant that Minsoo had nervously spent the entire day picking up his entire apartment, worrying if it looked presentable.

It wasn’t until after he had spent an hour going through all the junk mail on his coffee table that he realized he didn’t even know the guy who was coming to visit. Jaewon had just said a friend, no name. Oh well, it was probably just Daehyun visiting from out of town, or Youngjoon coming for a lecture or something.

Speaking of lectures, Minsoo had his class early tomorrow, so giving a final appraising stare to his apartment, he slunked off into his bed, not even bothering to change out his clothes. 

Hopefully tomorrow would be a better day.

–-

 _Beep. Beep. Beep._

Minsoo reached an arm out, though whether it was to snooze his alarm or throw it across the room, he wasn’t entirely sure. After being unsuccessful in his search, he pried one eye open to see- 

_8:49!_

_Shit_ , he was going to be so late. Throwing off the covers, he threw open his drawers and took the first clean shirt he saw and grabbed a pair of jeans off the floor, praying they weren’t stained with ramen. He splashed water on his face and threw on his clothes, then grabbed a jacket just in case the shirt was actually stained. 

Rushing out of the apartment, he practically sprinted to his campus, just a few blocks away that felt like a million miles at the moment.

By the time he made it, he was both sweaty and more than just a little late. Groaning, he entered the classroom to face his doom.

Needless to say, the rest of his day followed a similar pattern. His teacher had held him after class, lecturing him about timely behavior and how “This is college, this is serious. Life is not all about partying” and forcing Minsoo to do an extra assignment to make up the work he missed.

With all that, he still hadn’t grabbed anything to eat, but then he realized just before he walked into the dining room that he left his wallet back at his apartment. The cash he had on him could only get him a small snack from the vending machines outside his next class, which he supposed were better than nothing. 

By the time he got back home in the evening, he just felt like collapsing on his bed and not waking up until tomorrow. But of course, Minsoo couldn’t have anything he wanted because just as he was about to pull out some sweats to change into, his phone chimed. 

Groaning, he picked it up, seeing the new message from Jaewon.

 **Jaewon 7:45**  
Hyung, don’t forget, my friend is coming by a little past 8

 **Minsoo 7:45**  
Of course I didn’t forget, what kind of hyung do you think I am?

He threw his phone on the bed, not bothering to see if Jaewon had responded. Because, truth be told, he hadn’t remembered that Jaewon’s friend was coming. He hadn’t even prepared the couch or gotten takeout like he had planned. Okay, well, one step at a time. 

Picking up his phone again, he opened the food delivery app and chose a nice chicken place he liked, though it was usually just a bit too expensive for a regular meal. Placing an order of a few items he hoped his friend would like, he then walked over to his closet and pulled out his only set of spare sheets.

Dutifully placing them at the edge of the sofa alongside two extra pillows, Minsoo nodded to himself. Not too shabby, if he said so himself.

Seeing as he had a few minutes to spare, Minsoo flopped down on the sofa to scroll through his Patreon. He made it a habit to respond to at least some of the comments daily, even if he couldn’t say something to everyone. It was these people who were paying for, well, his entire livelihood at this point. Responding to a few questions here and there was the least he could do.

Just as it reached 8:15, he heard the door buzz. He pressed the button to unlock the lobby door, then awkwardly headed back into his bedroom. It felt weird standing in front of the door, even when he was expecting someone.

Soon enough, he heard quiet knocking at the door. Pulling the door open, he smiled widely. “Hey, you must be Jaew-”

It was fucking _Dongho_. Of course Jaewon’s friend just had to be Minsoo’s literal only enemy. 

Dongho looked just as shocked, though he only showed it through the slight raising of his eyebrows. “When Jaewon said he had a friend I could stay with, this wasn’t what I was expecting.”

Minsoo snorted. “Well, this isn’t exactly some sort of walk in the park for me either,” he said. “Seriously, why are you even here?”

“Well, I was coming here to visit Taeseok actually, but the guy had last minute plans. Couldn’t cancel my flight, but Jaewon had to be out of town so he told me I could ‘crash with a friend’,” Dongho said.

“Um, excuse me? Are you Lee Minsoo,” another voice behind Dongho asked, and the two turned around to see the restaurant delivery man. 

Minsoo bowed hurriedly, pulling out his wallet from his back pocket. “Yes, I am sorry about that. Here you are,” he said, handing over the money. 

The man inclined his slightly, handing over the two bags. He looked between Minsoo and Dongho again for a moment, before turning around and heading for the stairwell.

“Well, uh, that was awkward,” Minsoo said, reaching up to rub the back of his neck with his free hand. He sighed deeply; he was probably going to regret this, but oh well. “Guess you can come in, can’t eat all this by myself.” 

Turning his back on Dongho, Minsoo headed towards the chicken, setting the two bags down. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dongho neatly positioning his small carry-on and backpack against the wall, before taking off his coat and draping it over the carry-on.

Vehemently turning away, Minsoo quickly plated everything and brought it to the small dining table he had. It wasn’t really a dining table, but it was as close as he could get with 3 folding chairs and a cheap wooden table he hadn’t bothered replacing.

Dongho stood hesitantly for just a moment before sliding into one of the chairs. Minsoo walked back into the kitchen, bringing water glasses for the both of them.

This was fine. Dinner with his sworn enemy. Just a normal Thursday with Lee Minsoo.

It’s not as though he and Dongho had hated each other ever since Dongho made fun of Minsoo’s interest in gaming. And it wasn’t as if Minsoo had retaliated by throwing the other’s expensive cell phone into the school’s pool. No, not at all. Well… maybe.

The two ate in uncomfortable silence for a while, both silently scrolling through their phones. At one point, they both reached for the napkin pile at the same time, and Minsoo glared slightly before snatching one first. Dongho didn’t react, because of course he didn’t. He was too good for that.

After most of the food was gone, Minsoo stood up to begin packing away the leftovers. They’d make a nice lunch tomorrow. As he dug through his drawer for a container, he heard Dongho clear his throat behind him.

Waiting for several moments and not hearing Dongho saying anything, he asked. “What? Do you need something? Bathroom’s over there,” he said, gesturing vaguely towards his left.

“No, but thank you. I was just wondering… what exactly do you do anyways?” Well. That wasn’t exactly what Minsoo was expecting. He wasn’t entirely sure what Dongho was doing either, though if he heard Jaewon correctly, the other was working to get a business degree or something of the sort.

“What do you mean? I’m just living life to the fullest,” he said, avoiding the question. He didn’t need to be ridiculed anymore tonight. He slammed the fridge door just a little harder than necessary, and almost smirked when he saw Dongho flinch at the noise. Almost.

He headed towards his room, and without turning around spoke to Dongho. “Make sure to turn off the lights whenever you sleep, help yourself to whatever’s in the kitchen if I’m not awake in the morning.”

Before he closed his door, almost as an afterthought, he added, “And now I do the very thing you made fun of me for, except I’m actually proud of it.”

\---

The next morning comes too soon, and Minsoo has no classes, so he ignores his alarm clock and falls back to sleep.

When he gets up however much later, the sun isn’t nearly as high in the sky. In fact, it looked nearly dark outside. Groaning, Minsoo flipped over his clock to realize that it’s just nearly 7:00 PM. 

Well, he had about 30 minutes until he had to stream, so he figured that was enough time to get a snack and a shower. Ignoring the figure sitting on the couch, he headed into the bathroom to look presentable.

He wished he had more time to do his hair properly, it always looked a bit weird on camera to him, but it was passable. Push comes to shove, he’ll throw on a random beanie in the middle of the stream.

Ramen sounded like a good dinner option at this point, and considering he had less than ten minutes until his stream started, and the fact he still needed to set up, it was terribly convenient. 

He tossed the ramen in the bowl alongside the spice mix, and scrolled through his phone messages as he waited for the microwave. 

Nothing terribly exciting had happened while he slept. Apparently Spirit Blossom skin had won by a landslide according to his comments, so he’d have to shell out the RP for that tonight. Well, at least this time they chose the one he had liked and not the one that made him look like a complete fool to his teammates.

The microwave beeped, the quiet sound ringing throughout the nearly silent apartment. He pulled out a pair of chopsticks from his drawer, noticing his other pair missing. Well, at least that meant Dongho was eating food. 

Ignoring the heat of the bowl practically burning his hands, he walked back into his room, gently shutting the door behind him.

Placing the bowl to the side, he quickly turned on his monitor and computer, logging in with the efficiency of someone who’s procrastinated on assignments too much. He opened up League while he set up the stream, making sure all the settings and such were correct before he started.

Slipping on his headset, he turned on the stream and began waiting for the viewers to join in. Once about 20 were in, he began talking.

“Welcome back everybody, today’s another Friday League day. I know I’ve been getting some requests to do some other games, and if I’m honest, I’ve been considering Overwatch. Let me know in the comments your opinion on that, and I’ll see if I can make it happen. Anyways, while you guys are still joining, just going to pick up the Spirit Blossom skin.”

Smirking for effect, he let out a cheer. Probably a bit too loud, but it was fine. “That’s right, you guys really pulled through with all those votes for Spirit Blossom. Really excited to pick that up.” 

As he clicked his way through the purchasing, he quietly read some comments to himself.

“Aww, thanks guys, I love doing these streams too. And hey, for the person who said they’re embarrassed about playing video games, don’t be. I was once too, and I had a miserable time with it.” 

Minsoo inhaled deeply before continuing. “Just… don’t let others tell you who you can and can not be. It never ends up turning out well for anyone. Do what you love, and trust me, there’ll be someone out there who likes the same thing.”

Pausing for a moment on the game, he sat there for a moment before sitting back up and moving towards the Ranked gaming section. “Sorry, didn’t mean to get so deep on main,” he joked. “Anyways, today I’m going to be playing a Jungle champion, and I know what you guys are are thinking-”

He continued like this for a while, winning his first two games. He whooped loudly both times, thanking his viewers for their helpful support in the comments as he maneuvered into opening a new game. 

Suddenly, there was a hand on his shoulder, and instinctively Minsoo jumped up, knocking the hand away.

Turning to see Dongho, he relaxed slightly. He pulled the headset down to rest around his neck as he whispered furiously, “What are you doing here? I’m kind of in the middle of something.” 

Dongho shrugged casually. “Was curious what you were doing, heard shouting.”

“Nothing, I am doing absolutely nothing,” Minsoo said, pushing Dongho towards the door. “Now, if you excuse me, I’m in the middle of something.”

“Wait,” Dongho said, grasping onto the doorway before Minsoo could completely push him out of the room.

“What?” Minsoo scoffed quietly. “This had better be important.”

“I just… I heard what you said earlier. About not letting others stop you from doing what you love. And how it can ruin your life when people do that. So I just wanted to apologize-” he started before quickly restarting. 

“I just wanted to apologize for making you hate something you love,” Dongho said, looking towards the ground.

Minsoo stared at Dongho, shocked. Never in a million years would he have expected this to happen.

“I-I, well okay then,” he said. Dongho looked up, confused at his words. “That’s great that you apologize, good to know I am validated now, fantastic. Now, go now so I can finish my work, okay?” 

Without letting Dongho say another word, Minsoo kicked him, hard. Even if Dongho worked out everyday, Minsoo still had the legs of a dancer. He locked the door behind him and sat back down in his chair.

“Sorry about that guys,” he said as he pulled his headset back on. “Didn’t mean to leave you in radio silence all of a sudden. Now, where was I…”

He trailed off as he took a glance towards the comment section of the stream. They had heard it. The viewers had heard everything that he had just said, and now the comment section was literally spiraling out of control.

Many were saying Minsoo should forgive ‘the other guy’, while others were saying that the other guy was in the wrong and Minsoo was right not to accept an apology. And still others were saying they should wait for Minsoo to say something.

“I-I’m sorry, I’m going to cut this stream short,” he said suddenly. “S-see you guys Monday,” he said, quickly turning off the stream before he could read anymore of the comments.

_God, what was he going to do?_

It seemed as if everything he had known changed within the span of a minute, if even that. All of a sudden, his viewers knew way more about his personal life than he had ever intended. Now Dongho wanted to _apologize?_

Minsoo had no idea what to make of it. It felt as though all the barriers he had made to deal with his emotions had come crashing down all at once. Throwing himself on the bed, he lightly sobbed into the pillow. 

Maybe this nightmare would go away tomorrow.

\--- 

Of course it didn’t go away tomorrow, because that’s not how life works. Life doesn’t give you a rewind button, redoing it wasn’t an option. 

Well, it wasn’t as though Minsoo would get any more sleep, he figured. Sluggishly he headed towards the living room, where he saw Dongho’s head move slightly at the sound of the door opening.

Rather than just ignoring Dongho this time, Minsoo sat down on the other side of the sofa. Far enough that the two weren’t touching, but not so far as though they were on completely opposite sides, both literally and figuratively. Because, for once, they weren’t. They were at some semblance of a stalemate that Minsoo couldn’t make heads or tails of.

“So, now you know,” he choked out when neither of them had said anything for minutes.

Dongho tilted his head to the side slightly. “What do I know? That my actions have consequences?” That sentence seemed as though it should’ve been mocking, but it somehow came out sincere.

“No,” Minsoo spat out. Softening his tone slightly, because somehow he still cared about Dongho’s reaction, he said, “That I am a streamer.”

“Oh I’ve known that for a long time now,” Dongho said, and Minsoo’s head snapped up.

“H-how?? I never told you,” Minsoo asked incredulously.

“Well, Jaewon told me,” Dongho said simply. “Plus, you’re one of the top streamers, clips of your streams are always on the front page of the website.”

“How would you know that?” Minsoo said, raising an eyebrow.

This time it was Dongho’s turn to look away. “I might’ve gone looking for your page after Jaewon mentioned it.” 

Well, Minsoo certainly hadn’t been expecting that answer. “I thought you were under the impression video games were ‘simple minded’ and ‘stupid’ and only a child would still play them at our age,” he said, reiterating Dongho’s exact words from that moment. 

Dongho flinched. “That, that was wrong of me. I had no right to say something like that when I knew nothing. Honestly,” he looked up into Minsoo’s eyes, “I was jealous of your games.”

“You were _what_ now?” Minsoo sputtered. Out of all things Dongho said, Minsoo was absolutely not expecting. Dongho could’ve said he owned League of Legends and Minsoo would somehow be less surprised.

“You seemed so happy when you were playing,” and was Dongho _blushing_ now, “whereas I was always stuck doing the things my parents wanted me to do. They were the ones who told me all these bad things about video games, and so I decided to take that anger out on you. I didn’t really regret it at the time, but it wasn’t until much later that I realized what a jerk I had been.” 

Minsoo felt as though all the gears in his brain had stopped working. Dongho, the rich foreign exchange student, was jealous of him? The kid who spent all his money on dance classes and video games behind his parents back? Just the idea seemed like insanity to him, yet somehow, it seemed to make some sort of sense.

He stood up from the sofa, and Dongho honestly looked as though he was going to shed a tear. Thankfully, Minsoo wasn’t completely heartless. He held out his hand. “Come on, I’ll show you what it’s really like to play video games.”

Dongho looked confused, but he followed Minsoo into his room. Minsoo brought over his desk chair for Dongho to sit on, before quickly setting up.

“Wish I had time to redo my hair, but oh well,” Minsoo sighed as the streaming program booted up.

“Minsoo, what are you doing?” Dongho asked, confused beyond measure.

“You’ll see,” he said, passing the laptop to Dongho, the loading screen already pulled up. 

“Okay, and we’re starting in three, two, one,” and then he pressed the start button on the stream. It took a bit longer than usual for viewers to join in, especially considering he never did random lives.

He saw the viewers commenting about who the other person was and, unfortunately, commenting on his messy bedhead. Subconsciously running a hand through his hair, Minsoo turned on the computer’s microphone so he and Dongho would both be able to talk.

“So, hey everyone,” he said casually. “I know this is unexpected, but I have someone new here today. Guys, say hello to Dongho.”

He nudged Dongho lightly in the side. Dongho sighed deeply, as though regretting his every life decision up until that point, before speaking up. “Hello everyone.”

Minsoo wanted to laugh at how many comments were about Dongho’s deep voice, but still others were asking if Dongho was ‘the other guy’ from the night before.

“For those of you guys wondering, yes Dongho was the one I fought with yesterday. And yeah, we have some history between us. But today, he is here to make his first ever attempt at League, so you’re all going to be nice to him,” he said, mockingly nagging at his viewers.

One particular comment caught his eye, so he decided to answer that one before finally starting the game.

Wrapping his arm around Dongho, he pulled the two of them together. “Did Dongho and I make up?” Looking Dongho directly in the eyes he said, “Yeah, I’d go as far to call us friends.”

And for once, neither of them had anything against that statement.

**Author's Note:**

> Join the Lost in Translation fanfiction [Discord!](https://discord.gg/9dYwgkN)
> 
> \---
> 
> [My Twitter](https://twitter.com/activelyweird)  
> [My Tumblr](https://activelyweird.tumblr.com/)


End file.
